Asphalt-surfaced roadways have been built to facilitate vehicular travel. Depending upon usage density, base conditions, temperature variation, moisture variation, and/or physical age, the surface of the roadways can eventually become misshapen, non-planar, unable to support wheel loads, or otherwise unsuitable for vehicular traffic. In order to rehabilitate the roadways for continued vehicular use, spent asphalt is removed in preparation for resurfacing.
Cold planers, sometimes also called road mills or scarifiers, are machines that typically include a frame quadrilaterally supported by tracked or wheeled drive units. The frame provides mounting for an engine, an operator's station, and a milling drum. The milling drum, fitted with cutting tools, is rotated through a suitable interface by the engine to break up the surface of the roadway.
In a typical configuration, multiple spiraling rows of cutting tools are oriented on an external surface of the milling drum to converge at a center of the drum. Each row of cutting tools includes a flighting and a plurality of cutting bits connected to the Righting by individual mounting blocks. In some configurations, the flighting is a continuous helical screw. In other configurations, the Righting is formed by individual segments of a helical screw, one segment for each mounting block. The flighting is welded to the external surface of the milling drum at a precise location and in a precise orientation, such that rotation of the milling drum results in desired movement of removed roadway material from the drum onto the center of a tandem conveyor. In addition, each mounting block is welded at a precise location and in a precise orientation onto a corresponding flighting such that the cutting bits are held in optimal positions that productively remove material while providing longevity to the tools. An exemplary milling drum is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,818 of Luciano that issued on Dec. 21, 2004.
Through use of the milling drum, the mounting blocks and/or flighting can be damaged. And due to the precision necessary in locating and orienting the flighting on the drum and the mounting blocks on the flighting, repairs to the milling drum are typically performed at the factory level or at specially equipped repair facilities by highly trained technicians. In some instances, robotic machinery is used to perform the repairs due to the precision required in locating and orienting the mounting blocks and/or flighting. Unfortunately, these requirements can result in high repair costs and cause the machine to be unavailable for use for an extended period of time.
The tool mounting block and milling drum of the present disclosure solve one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.